Lana Mulberry
Lana Mulberry is a first-year student at Beacon Academy. She's the hard-headed, soft-hearted leader of Team AALE; resilient and strong, and always ready to protect others. Lana primarily wields her axe-fan-shield combo, Dié. Appearance Physical Appearance Curvy body with muscular arms. Tanned skin, brown eyes, and mulberry colored hair that falls over her shoulder in a thick, fishtail braid. There’s a large scar starting from the top of her thigh down to her ankle, a wound from her childhood that never healed properly. Outfit Lana's standard attire is a black sleeveless dress with her emblem, a laurel wreath, wrapping around the hem of the skirt. Atop that, a mulberry colored jacket with a queen Anne collar that’s usually kept open, with dark purple frogs to hold it closed when needed. Below, pale purple stockings, and black boots that end just below the knee. Strapped around her thighs are small cases that hold dust vials and extra medical supplies. Underneath her dress, Lana wears Ice Dust-woven bandages on her torso - should her aura run dry, these act a last line of defense by providing her with a sort of ice-armor. Personality Lana’s attitude can generally be summarized with, “I will climb a table, six chairs, and a pile of books all stacked precariously on top of each other, just to punch you.” She's determined and stubborn, willing to go to great lengths just to prove a point. She's very motherly towards others, constantly looking out for friends while simultaneously ignoring her own problems by putting theirs above hers. When confronted with conflict, she generally tries to talk things out but will pull rank when she feels that it’s necessary. Horrendously insecure but hides it well and is always there for her team. There are times that her past may show itself in her actions, causing her to come off as cold or angry, but she does her best too keep her emotions under control. Despite her less-than-generous upbringing, Lana developed a particularly overly-trusting attitude, perhaps in response to the compassion shown to her by Astra when there was no reason to trust the girl. This trust has gotten her into trouble from time to time, even endangering herself and her brother on one such occasion. Backstory Starting her life as Laurel Maia, she was born and raised in Menagerie by a group of misfits and bandits that had been together so long they considered each other family. For years Laurel thrived in her family’s lifestyle, but at the age of 10 she suffered a terrible leg injury at the hands of some Grimm. Her family abandoned her when she could no longer keep up with them, and so they left her behind. For a short while she survived on her own by begging, until she finally snuck aboard a ship headed for Mistral. Once there, she joined a caravan that roamed the countryside, and was in time adopted by an elderly woman named Astra Mulberry after hearing her story - convinced that no child should have to grow alone - who mistakenly called her Lana after mishearing her name, which ended up sticking. After two years of a caravan life, Lana and Astra met the young Austin Argento, a young boy about Lana’s age, and eventually adopting him into the family as well. Not too long after, the trio left the caravan to start a life in Soyo, a small village near the coast of Mistral. There, Astra opened a dressmaking shop with a small apartment above it that the patchwork family lived in. When the kids were about fourteen, their adoptive mother passed away in her sleep, and they were left on their own for some time before being taken in by the village’s Rangers - a group that watched over their town and protected it from the Grimm in a way similar to that of Huntsmen, though they lacked the specialized training. With the Rangers the kids learned some combat skills, and when they were old enough they left for Sanctum Academy and eventually Beacon, but not before promising to one day return to their home, and use their new skills to protect it like it did them. Skills and Abilities As a student of Beacon Academy, Lana has had a number of years worth of combat training. He's trained primarily in axe combat and shielding, for fighting with both Grimm and people alike. Before attending Beacon, she and Austin attended Sanctum Academy for their initial huntsmen training, and before then the two were advised under the watch of the Rangers in Soyo. She's considered to have above-average strength which compliments her semblance, and can take quite a few hits while dealing out her own in kind. Lana was raised in a very rough-and-tumble environment. Her family consisted of a group of bandits and ruffians, who sough out their own greed through violence and destruction. She primarily served to provide support, not having a real role in the group aside from using her for her strength. Regardless, she continued to get stronger and more resilient as time passed, to the day that they left her behind due to injury. Needless to say, Lana is a tank. Weapon Skill In the environment she was raised, the complex weapons common to Huntsman were foreign. With her strength and the options available to her, Lana quickly picked up using axes as a primary weapon type, as well as a tool. As she continued to learn she adopted a defensive style, eventually even learning the intricacies of shield-work. During her training with the Rangers she was encouraged to expand her learning to another weapon. To her dismay though, she was unable to find anything that she enjoyed. One day however, she stumbled across a performance of dance and fans. The elegance captivated her, and upon learning of the use of fans in historical wars, she began her own training in the art. Soon enough she was maintaining a delicate balance of the beauty of fans, and the brutality of axes. This eventually led to the construction of Dié, Lana's primary weapon - an axe, pair of fans, and a shield in combination. Lana has a strong affinity to use of both Ice and Earth Dusts types, though understands a wide variety of the elements from her time working with Astra in her youth. She's shown good use of Ice Dust in both combat and utility forms, as well as Wind Dust. Semblance Lana's semblance is what she calls "Lending” - The ability to bestow a portion of her physical strength on other people. It works by physical contact, and comes at the cost of a portion of her own strength, so giving away 10% would leave her with 90%. This effect lasts for about a minute at the onset of the story. The strength given does not return to her immediately once that time expires, instead generally requiring a little time and rest to restore back to normal. These effects will leave Lana in a somewhat lethargic and disoriented state if too much of her own strength is given out, especially with repeated use. The recipient of the lent strength will feel a similar sort of "loss" of strength though to a lesser degree having not lost any of their own strength, but their mind and body needing to readjust regardless. There is a workaround to the semblance's requirement of physical contact. As tools, clothing, and the like act as conduits for Aura, if she and another person are to be touching the same object - a length of rope with one person on each end, for example - she may channel her semblance through said object in order to reach her target. Lana's semblance is by all means a support-type semblance used to aid others, as it does not have a direct benefit to herself, likely manifesting from her being used by her family for their gain rather than her own. As such, it can be seemingly improbable to use in a one-on-one scenario. However, if used properly, Lana has shown the ability to anticipate when the lent strength will leave her opponent, leaving them open to being caught off guard, or even trapping them in a position where they required the extra strength. When activated and while in effect, Lana's deep purple can be seen swirling and melding with the recipients aura. As of yet, Lana hasn't demonstrated an effect from Dust on her semblance. Fighting Style ''Vanguard: "It's a two hit fight — I hit them, and they hit the ground."'' Lana’s fighting style revolves around the use of dust and raw strength in order to keep weaker foes at bay, while using her shield and semblance to protect her allies from stronger threats. With a preference towards ice dust, Lana makes use of a sort of “lockdown” strategy while fighting, attempting to disable her opponent to better take them down, or allow a teammate to follow up. While fighting with her weapon's axe forms, Lana tends to take advantage of an enemies underestimating her speed. While her weapon is heavy, she's still capable of reaching good speeds with it, catching opponents off guard or smashing through their defenses. She puts to use primarily Ice dust in this mode, carving up the battle field with vicious slices, and creating an icy terrain she can use for any variety of things, especially in a team setting. When using her weapon in its fan form, Lana fights with a much more elegant fashion. Her movements become less brutal and more flowing, going from one action to the next with ease and even throwing her weapons on occasion. With her fans in particular, she makes added use of Wind Dust both to disorient enemies, and in order to compensate for her slower mobility, giving herself short bursts of movement on to quickly navigate or get high into the air. Lana may also use Ice Dust in this form as a make-shift ranged attack method, lacking other forms of firearm in her weapon. She may create icicles along the edge of the blades, quickly launching them at her opponents. While her semblance doesn’t give herself any real bonus, actually making her weaker while in use, she compensates with an iron will in combat, and use of her innate strength to press forward while aiding her allies. Knowing her disadvantages, she tends to focus primarily on the defense side of things at times, using her weapons tertiary shield mode to protect allies while calling shots, before swapping forms to punish enemies. Flaws One of Lana's main problem areas is her lack of general mobility. While she can work around it with her weapon, without them she's likely the slowest member of the team. While she may be strong, Lana has a tendency to overuse her semblance. Paying more concern towards her friends than herself, she may give up too much of her strength and left herself vulnerable to further attack. Trivia * Both Lana’s given name, Laurel Maia, and current name are telling of her color scheme. Laurel refers to laurel wreaths, like her emblem, and are known to come in greens and golds. Mulberry plants are regarded for their green leaves and purple fruits. * Lana alludes to the Hawaiian god Kū, god of strength, and Greek goddess Nike, goddess of victory. Kū’s can be seen in a variety of ways, though most clear being her immense amount of strength and endurance. Incidentally, Nike is associated with the colors green and gold, and is known for wearing a laurel wreath. * The original iteration of Lana’s weapons were dust infused ribbons used for various purposes. While that was done away with, pieces of this can be found in the ice-armor bandages worn under her clothes. * Lana’s semblance was inspired by the character ReynaReyna's abilities: http://riordan.wikia.com/wiki/Reyna_Ram%C3%ADrez-Arellano#Demigod_Abilities of the Percy Jackson series. References Category:Characters Category:Team AALE